The many adventures of Harry Potter
by ViciousFitz
Summary: Harry visits his family vault at Gringott's and discovers something he had never had before, a role model, or at least the journal of one. Features a competent, intelligent Harry with some awesome gadgets. No bashing.
1. Gringott's and a new friend

**AN: Welcome to my first story. Hopefully you'll enjoy the adventure. A couple of things that this story will contain: Good Dumbledore, friends with Ron and Hermione, a snake familiar, a Gringotts visit, awesome enchanted armor, awesome enchanted gun based off of Gene Starwind's gun from _Outlaw Star,_ toned down a bit of course, dates with girls, a competent Harry who is a bit of a smart ass, asshole but not evil Snape, common sense solutions, and anything else I can think of in the process of writing this thing.**

 **This story will NOT contain: Slash, god-mode Harry, prude Harry, ridiculously caricatured douchebag Ron, ridiculously caricatured overbearing Hermione, children named after well-meaning but ridiculously manipulative old men or asshole potions teachers, fairy god-goblins, easy solutions to unique problems, ridiculously huge harems, or harems.**

 **I'll keep ANs to a minimum.**

 **I already know who the final pairing is going to be, and it wont be canon, maybe I'll tell if enough people ask, maybe not. Let me know if you like my story.  
**

 **If I use something from another story I will mention who I got it from, unless I don't remember, I've read hundreds of stories on this site. I will try to say _s_ _omething_ though, if I don't you can assume that it came out of my head but don't remember how it got there.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything associated with it, any OCs are mine but I really don't have any legal right to them either, this is a public domain after all.**

* * *

Harry James Potter, thirteen years old, was one extremely happy wizard. The night before had been interesting to say the least. After accidently blowing up his "aunt'' Marge and a harrowing escape from Privet Drive, he had taken a ride on The Knight Bus while thinking he was going to be expelled, and listening to the driver and conductor gossip about the escaped convict Sirius Black.

It turned out that he had worried for nothing because the Minister of Magic _himself_ had met Harry at the Leaky Cauldron and let him know that everything had been taken care of and he wasn't in trouble. The minister had seemed relieved that Harry was okay and suggested that Harry Spend the last three weeks at the Cauldron and Diagon Alley, which Harry was only happy to do.

After laying down some perfectly reasonable rules, answering some questions, and bidding the teen goodnight, the minister left Harry at the inn. Tom had shown Harry to his room and also left him alone. He had been so tired that he had fallen asleep almost immediately.

The first couple of days Harry had worked diligently to complete his homework so he could spend the rest of his time exploring the wonderous Diagon Alley without someone shepherding him around for the first time since he found out he was a wizard. Needless to say, Harry was extremely excited to finally be able to look at everything that the Alley had to offer without someone hounding his every step or scrutinizing his every purchase.

Sitting in his favorite booth at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, he finished his last essay with a flourish and leaned back in relief. Doing his homework in the ice cream parlor with the occasional free sunday and advice from the proprietor himself was certainly a marked improvement from doing it under the covers with a flashlight in the dead of night.

"Finished, lad?" Mr. Fortescue said from the counter.

"Yes, sir. Thank you for all your help...and the ice cream.'' Harry said with a bright smile at the helpful man.

''No problem, sonny,'' Mr. Fortescue replied with his own smile, "why don't you get on out of here and get to exploring this glorious alley as I know you've been itching to do."

"I think I'll do just that," Harry said, getting up from his booth. "Thank you again."

Waving at the man, Harry stepped out into the alley. Immediately he was assaulted with the various sights, sounds, and smells of the busy place. Smiling slightly at the thought of not having to see the Durleys for the better part of a year, he thought of what he wanted to do first. He still had not gone to Gringotts and refilled his money bag, but there wasn't any pressing need to do so.

 _'I think I'll do some exploring first, that way if I find something I can't live without I'll have some time to think about if I really need it while I get money from my vault. I do need some new clothes, maybe some new glasses, and a haircut, but that can wait.'_

With that thought, he headed to the very first store he had been seeing everytime he stepped out of the ice cream parlor the last few days.

The Magical Menagerie wasn't incredibly busy, but there were a few people milling around looking at the various magical and mundane animals alike. Neat rows of cages lined the walls. Nobody appeared to be in an hurry, which made sense to Harry, as he couldn't think of too many occasions for a emergency need for a kneazle, dericawl, or crup.

The store clerk looked at him and with a quick glance up towards his forehead asked if Harry needed assistance. Harry waved him off with a quick "just looking, thank you." The clerk nodded and went back to his magazine.

Harry was looking at the cages with the nifflers when he heard a hissing sound.

Looking around he saw that it was coming from a few glass tanks that were filled with snakes. Slightly surprised to see snakes in the store, due to their reputation of being used exclusively for dark arts, He walked over to the terrariums and peered through the first one. Inside was what the tag labeled a king snake. It was rather large and seemed to not want to move from it's magical warming stone. Harry moved on to the next tank and was surprised to see a very recognizable cobra, which also didn't seem to want to move.

Shaking his head at the lazy reptiles he was about to exit the store when he heard something else.

 _$Speaker! Hey speaker! Over here!$_

Tracking the sound to a corner tank that he had not looked in, he looked inside and was surprised to see a two foot long snake that was labelled as a Taipan. It had a thin body, dark green coloring and a rather small head. The label said it was one of the most venomous snakes in the world. Something niggled in the back of his mind and he almost started when he realized that he was hearing the snake due to his parseltongue.

He had pretty much forgotten about that. It was the cause of endless grief last year due to the whole Heir of Slytherin fiasco. He looked around to see if anybody was close enough to hear him.

 _$Yes? Can I help you?$_ He hissed back, seeing no harm in being polite.

 _$Maybe, darling, but I was actually thinking I could help you.$_ It replied.

A little startled to be called 'darling' by a venomous serpent, He said, _$What do you mean?$_

The snake rose up and looked him in the eye.

 _$Well, I want you to buy me and let me be your familiar.$_ She said.

Harry adopted a confused look on his face and asked, _$Familiar? I'm not a dark wizard, why would you want to be my familiar?$_

He could have sworn the snake sternly raised an eyebrow in a very Hermione-like way, like he had just said something very dumb.

 _$Wow, darling, a bit presumptuous of you to assume that just because I'm a poisonous snake it automatically makes me evil.$_

Harry had the decency to look a little sheepish at that, _$But everybody says that even being a parseltongue is the mark of a dark wizard and snakes are used only for the dark arts and I don't want to be a dark wizard. I wish I didn't even have this ability,$_ Harry rambled.

 _$Well, I suppose if everyone says it, it must be true then huh?$_ She said, rolling her eyes, _$Look, darling, it's an ability, you decide what to do with it. Besides, I am not evil. Not in the least. I would only bite someone with poison if they threatened me or mine.$_

Harry was still a little sceptical, but could see the point the snake was trying to make. _$Ok, I guess I can understand that, but why in particular do you want to come with me?$_ He asked.

 _$Well, aside from the fact that sitting in this tank all day is incredibly boring and I'd lke to be able to stretch out every once in a while, your magic makes me feel good. That means we are compatible. Also, you are the only speaker I've ever met, and I'd rather be with a speaker instead of just being taken to some random wizard's house and kept in yet another tank to serve as decoration.$_ She said.

Harry could see what she meant and when he thought about it, parseltongue in and of itself was just an ability, it really did depend on what he did with it. The more he thought about it, the more useful having a little snake friend seemed. Still...there were other concerns, like what everybody else would say, Ron and Hermione in particular. Ron was absolutely set in his ways and utterly convinced that all snakes were evil, even the not so scaly students that were considered snakes by virtue of being sorted into a school house at eleven years old. Hermione would probably get used to it a lot quicker so maybe they could team up and convince Ron...maybe.

The rest of the school might turn on him again, but honestly, he was pretty used to that by now, having spent most of last year being a pariah. While not pleasant, the people who actually mattered to him stood by him while everyone else was alternatively glaring or skittering away from him.

Harry scoffed at that thought.

He look at the little snake and asked, _$can I think about it? I'm leaning towards yes, but there are some things I need to think about before I commit.$_

 _$Okay, darling, just don't take too long, never know when some nutter walks in with the purpose of buying a niffler and walks out with a venomous snake.$_

He chuckled a little at her attempt at wit. He could tell that it really did want to go with him, he didn't know _how_ he knew that, but he did. Kind of like how he got the impression of it's facial expressions, even though it was technically impossible for it to _have_ facial expressions.

He started to walk away when a thought occured to him.

 _$Are you a male or female?$_ He asked.

 _$Female, darling.$_ She replied.

 _$Okay, I'll see you later.$_

Walking out the door, Harry was already pretty sure that he was going to get her. Even if this was some elaborate set up so she could turn on him and gain her freedom, Madam Pomfrey had informed him that, because of the basilisk bite and pheonix tears, he was immune to most poisons. He had to admit, that was a pretty nifty side effect. Not that he had any intentions to go and get poisoned or even test the theory too much.

After spending a couple of hours exploring the other various shops, listening to people gossip about Sirius Black, or trying to sell him everything from lunar charts to large crystal balls filled with a model galaxy, he decided that it was time to go to Gringott's and get some money from his vault so he could get his school supplies. There was also some questions he had and he hoped the goblins would be able to answer at least some of them.

He arrived at the bank and nodded to the goblin guards flanking the entry door. Walking in he was impressed again at the marble oppulence that the entry chamber consisted of. There were goblins seated on high chairs behind counters that looked like they needed a staircase for the short creatures to get up on. The goblins were engaged in the usual things like counting galleons and inspecting jewels.

He walked up to the nearest teller and waited patiently for the goblin to acknowledge him. Harry knew from what little he paid attention to Professor Binns' droning voice in history class that goblins hated to be interrupted and were more inclined to be a bit more helpful if you didn't. Of course, nobody really liked to be interrupted so he supposed it was more of a coomon courtesy than any kind of cultural quirk exclusive to goblins.

The goblin finished counting the pile and wrote something down in the ledger to the left of the coins. He looked down at Harry and said, "can I help you, wizard?''

''Yes sir, I would like to withdraw some money from my vault and would also like to speak with someone regarding my account, please.'' Harry responded.

"Key please." The goblin reached down as Harry produced his key from his pockets and handed it to him.

The goblin inspected the key and using some method only known to goblins almost instantly knew Harry's name.

"That seems to be in order. May I inquire as to the nature of your request to speak with your account manager, Mr. Potter?" The goblin said.

"Well, sir, I heard when I first came here that the vault I had been using was called a trust vault. I figured that if that was a trust vault, then there might be a main vault, and, um, I was kind of hoping that maybe if there was a main vault I could see if there was something of my parents'. I have very little that belonged to them or any of my family, really, and I was hoping...that maybe I could find a keepsake or something like that. " Harry responded, a bit embarrassed at sounding so small when he mentioned his parents.

The goblin, who was named Ripclaw, judging from the nameplate that Harry had just noticed, looked down at the child with a blank face and said, "very well, child, I'll call your account manager and let him know that you would like to speak with him. You may wait over there." Ripclaw pointed to a small waiting area on the other side of the chamber.

"Thank you for your help, sir." Harry said turning around and walking to a seat in the waiting area.

After about fifteen minutes, another goblin, dressed in an eighteenth century muggle type business suit, came from one of the halls behind the counter and beckoned Harry to follow him.

Harry followed the goblin down the hall to an office with a nameplate that proclaimed it to belong to Grimjaw. Grimjaw walked into the office with Harry following him and sat down at the nice mahogony desk and indicated a seat for Harry in front of the desk.

As Harry sat down the goblin studied him for a few seconds and then spoke, "hello, Mr. Potter, My name is Grimjaw. I am the account manager for the Potter family, as well as a few others. I understand from Ripclaw that you would like to see the Potter family vault.''

Harry felt a little nervous at this point, he just hoped that he wasn't doing anything wrong, although he couldn't actually think of anything that could be wrong with asking questions. Nonetheless, he replied in what he hoped was a strong voice, ''yes sir, I didn't actually know that there was one, but I guessed there might be and I was curious if it would have anything of my ancestor's or my parent's. I don't know too much about my family and I would like to rectify that if I can."

Grimjaw nodded his head and said, "I'll allow this, but you won't be abe to touch any money in your family vault until you come of age. That shouldn't be a problem because your father set you up with one of the largest trust vaults that I've, personally, ever seen. Also, you will only be allowed to remove three heirlooms at a time from the vault."

Harry was surprised at the largest trust vault comment but decided to wait to see if any of the questions he had could be answered in the family vault before asking Grimjaw.

"That sounds more than fair, sir, and thank you." Harry said gratefully.

Grimjaw seemed pleased that he didn't have to deal with a little princeling throwing a tantrum and said, "if you'll follow me, I'll take you down to your family vault and then your trust vault to refill your money bag."

Harry was surprised again and, despite his resolution to glean answers from observing instead of incessant questioning, couldn't help but ask, "I thought there were different goblins that took people down to their vaults. Griphook always took me down there before."

Grimjaw chuckled a little at that and replied, "normally, yes, for a trust vault, or a vault only owned by one person, Griphhook or another cart goblin would take you down there. Only an account manager can access the family vault he represents."

"Ah,'' said Harry. "Security reasons, I suppose."

''Indeed," Grimjaw answered.

After a wild cart ride ride where Harry could have sworn there was at least five seconds of freefall, the pair stood in front of a large circular vault door. Intricate golden filigree surrounded an old english stylized letter "P" in the very center.

Grimjaw walked up and, placing his hand on one side of the door, indicated the other side for Harry to do the same. Harry complied and the door unsealed with a clang, opening just enough for the two to be able to walk in.

Harry felt his jaw dropping at the sight in front of him. If his trust vault had piles of gold coins then the family vault had mountains. One whole side of the massive vault was dedicated to coins. Galleons, sickles, and knuts in three gigantic piles that reached almost to the ceiling, which was a good bit higher than his head. The whole thing was illuminated by, what he assumed was, the magical equivalent to florescent lighting.

The other side of the vault had large shelves with strange artifacts lined neatly as if in a museum, glass display cases with different types of uniform robes, and a small amount of weapons from different eras and countries displayed on the walls.

"Wow, I knew my parents left me a small fortune, but this is...insanity. I must be at least as rich as Malfoy. What exactly did my family do to amass this amount of gold?" Harry exclaimed after shaking his head and closing his jaw.

Grimjaw chuckled and said, "sorry, Mr. Potter, the Malfoy family fortune is much greater than this. Your family was definitely one of the wealthier families, but, mainly because they actually had a code of ethics in their business dealings, they still fell short of the obscene amounts that some of the less scrupulous families are able to maintain. I believe your ancestors didn't necessarily have an occupation that they specialized in in particular, but, like most old blood lines, they produced a few outstanding individuals who made good business decisons or invented something groundbreaking over their long history. Are you aware of how a famiy trust works, Mr. Potter?"

Harry shook his head and replied, ''no sir, what does that mean exactly?"

"I'll explain it with an example," Grimjaw said. "A family opens an account hundreds of years ago. This family consists of a young husband, a wife that took her husband's name, an older male offspring, a younger male offspring, and a youngest female offspring. Now the husband and wife both have jobs, they both work hard and they both deposit a portion of their earnings into their vault every month. Over time the money accumulates and grows and when their first child graduates from Hogwarts and is ready to start his life, his parents gift him with a small nest egg and his own vault for him to be able to live on until he can stand on his own. This young man also gets a job and does everything that his parents did and adds to his own vault. More time passes, and, unfortunately, the young man dies in an accident before he is able to marry and sire an heir of his own. Now, as he didn't have an heir, his vault gets closed and the money or any items he placed there gets put in his parents vault, growing the original vault even more. Are you with me so far?"

Harry nodded, fascinated with the history lesson.

Grimjaw cleared his throat and said, ''good, because this where it gets confusing. Now, the family is short one member, but they have all of the deceased's possessions in their vault. The younger male offspring graduates from Hogwarts and the parents do the same thing for him, and he does the same thing that his brother did. Fortunately, this young man was able to meet someone at Hogwarts and married soon after. The couple soon have a child and the line continues and their vault continues to grow."

Grimjaw took a small break at this point and waved his hand. Two chairs that looked like the ones in his office appeared where they were standing and he indicated one for Harry to sit.

"Ah, that's better," Grimjaw sighed. "These old bones of mine just aren't what they used to be."

Harry smiled at the goblin from his seat, starting to feel more comfortable in his presence and wondering why wizards in general seemed to not like them. This one, at least, seemed rather talkative and, if not necessarily friendly, definitely not hostile.

"Where was I?" Grimjaw continued. ''Ah, yes, now, the female offspring graduates and her parents do the same for her, she does the same and her vault grows after a few years. At this point, the husband dies and his son becomes the new head of the family. If he had died before he had an heir of age, his wife would have taken over as regent of the family until the oldest son reached majority. The middle son is now the head of the family and his vault gets merged with the main vault that was started all those years ago and he has control over the, now, family fortune. Now, the youngest female offspring is ready to marry. So the new head of the family negotiates with the suitors family for a dowry, this can be anything from a sum of money, to property, to a particularly rare Item. When the dowry is settled and the two marry it ties the two families together closer, but the female is, in essence, leaving the original family's name behind."

Grimjaw cleared his throat again and asked, "do you have any questions so far?''

Harry shook his head and said, ''no sir, I think if the history Professor at Hogwarts was as good as you, I might not have such bad grades in that class"

Grimjaw laughed at that and said, "I don't normally talk this much to my clients, but I can't, in good concience, have an heir to a fortune uninformed of how that fortune came to be."

"I do appreciate the information," said Harry.

"No problem, lad, just remember to tip me generously when you leave and you and I will get along just fine." Grimjaw said. "Now I'll finish this impromptu history lesson off and let you look around your vault, It's already past lunchtime."

Harry nodded and listened as Grimjaw continued his lesson.

"The head of the family controls the fortune, and, generally, gives out assistance to his siblings if they need it, or makes business decisions using the family money. A small percentage goes to his siblings vaults for any profit made, but the majority goes to the main family vault. Over the decades, the main vault and the branch vaults grow with good business and hard work, or ruthlessness and savagery, depending on the family. If a family member dies without an heir named their vault gets added to the family vault and if the name dies out then it gets passed to the closest descendant that comes from another family. If everyone dies but one person, such as in your case, then that person gets the whole fortune."

Grimjaw peered at Harry closely with his eyes narrowed and said, "that was probably one of the reasons you were sent to your muggle relatives to live in obscurity until you rejoined the magical world and went to school, where you could be protected from some of your less than scrupulous relatives on your father's side. Your mother's relatives, being muggles, wouldn't be able to inherit the Potter fortune if something...untoward, had happened to you, even if they had known about it."

Harry's eyes widened. That did make sense.

 _'Dammit, so that's that mystery solved, Dumbledore told me that I was protected there, I guess he wasn't just talking about from people who were mad about what happened to Voldedouche, although I imagine the groups overlap a bit.'_ Harry thought with a grimace. There went any hope of convincing Dumbledore to let him leave, and he didn't think he was ready to be able to protect himself just yet, anyway. _'I'll have to think of something, it wouldn't even be so bad if I was a bit more self sustaining in that house, and had minimal contact with the Dursleys. I also need to find out just who isn't in prison who I could be related to and in danger from. Well, I have all of this money, that could only help.'_

Harry finished with his conteplation and looked at Grimjaw.

"Thank you sir, for the information, and the warning. What would be an appropriate tip for this?" Harry asked.

Grimjaw contemplated for a moment and said, "I think I'll let you decide that, you can tell a lot about a man by how he tips,'' he chuckled.

Harry winced at that and chuckled weakly, "If you think so sir."

"I do. Now go and look at your heirlooms and don't try to take a single knut," Grimjaw said sternly, taking out a magazine from...somewhere. "Remember, only three heirlooms can be taken at a time so choose wisely."

Harry nodded and stood up. He walked over to the first shelf and immediately noticed that most of them were rare and expensive items he had seen in some of the higher tier shops in Diagon Alley. Some were specialty items, really only useful in certain jobs that he wasn't remotely inerested in at the moment. A few books about topics that he could barely even read about, much less understand. He didn't see anything that belonged to his parents or anything he couldn't live without.

He moved from the shelves, not really seeing anything of particular use or sentimental value, over to the glass display cases. These contained a lot of different uniforms that were used by the various Potters throughout, what looked like, a very long history. Auror robes, healer robes, and what looked suspiciously like what Fudge was wearing under his ridiculous pinstriped cloak. Harry peered at the plaque under these robes and his eyes widened.

 _Edmund Potter - Minister of Magic. 1792-1800._

 _'Wicked! I'll have to research what he did when he was in office, I hope it was some good things.'_

Harry moved down the line until he came upon something different. Some kind of leather outfit and what looked kind of similar to a muggle muzzle loader, if sleeker. Confused, Harry looked at the plaque under the case.

 _Edith Potter- Independent cursebreaker, Explorer, Inventor, 1658-1706_

Underneath the plaque was a small booklet, Harry picked it up and looked at the title.

 _Adventurer's Armor and Caster_

 _Edith Potter, 1692_

Extremely interested at this point, Harry turned to the first page.

 _This booklet describes my two greatest inventions, The Adventurer's Armor and The Caster. These two artifacts, almost as much as my natural tenacity, are what I attribute my success to. I first thought to mass produce them as a business venture, but thought better of it. While definitely not the most dangerous artifacts out there, these two items together can increase a persons personal power exponentially, so I thought it would be better to place them under a patent ward and keep them in the family. Maybe some day there will be a young Potter with a taste for adventure that I have and can find use for them. Even with as much as the edges of the map are being filled in in my day, there will always be forgotten places to explore and new monsters to fight. Magic just works that way._

 _Edith Potter- 1701_

As he was reading the introduction written by the quill of one of his ancestors and briefly wondering what a patent ward was, he had flashbacks to his own 'adventures'. A man in front of a mirror with two faces, and a half transparent sixteen-year-old calling for a gigantic, insane snake with a death-stare...

Harry shook his head and looked at the armor closely. The vest and pants were thin, easy enough to conceal under his school robes. The right bracer seemed to have a wand holster built into it, he'd been meaning to get one of those anyway. The boots looked almost brand new, but obviously worn at the same time. The belt had a holster for the Caster and looked extremely comfortable.

He wanted the armor, the only problem with it was that it seemed to be fit to a person who was a bit bigger than his skinny, thirteen-year-old frame. He looked at the second page.

 _Adventurer's Armor._

 _Yes, it will fit you. Whether you weigh 100 pounds or 300. Auto-sizing runes, easy peasy. Any adventurer knows their runes._

Well, it seemed Edith was a bit of a smart-arse, and wasn't shy about her apparent ability to anticipate problems with startling accuracy.

It was decided, he was taking them, even the Caster. At first he was a bit concerned about having a weapon at school, then he remembered a sword jamming up into the mouth of a ridiculously large snake, and a wand capable of casting all manner of unpleasantness. He decided one more couldn't hurt, and may in fact help, he wouldn't have to rely on a bird bringing him a patched and ragged hat.

He didn't want to take off all of his clothes in the middle of a bank vault so he looked around for something to carry it all in until he got somewhere more private. His eyes fell on a smallish, rather plain-looking trunk sitting by a glass case with an auror's robes in it. Thinking it would do nicely and maybe Grimjaw wouldn't count a trunk as a third item, because honestly, it's a trunk, he walked over to it, picked it up and brought over to the glass case with the armor and Caster in it.

Opening the trunk proved that looks can be deceiving when it grew to the size of a regular trunk and becoming rather ornate in the process. The outside now had seven keyholes with a lovely dark glossy finish and the Potter "P" on the front. Looking on the inside further confused Harry when he only saw a shallow tray with a folded piece of parchment and seven different keys on a keyring.

Harry picked up the parchment and read.

 _This trunk is a rare kind of trunk with seven compartments. Some of the more well-off aurors like to use them because, well, they are dead useful. Why else would one use something out of the ordinary? Honestly. I'll leave you to figure out how to use it because it's not that difficult. Just a couple of hints though, the first compartment opened with the first key is empty, you can tap it once with your wand to camoflage it, or tap it twice to shrink it to the size of a matchbox. Tap it again to return it to it's normal size._

 _'Were all of my ancestors smart-arses, or is it just the ones who left me useful stuff?"_ Harry thought incredulously.

Harry picked up the keyring and grabbed the key with a "1'' on the head and put it into the corresponding lock. Nothing happened when he turned it.

Harry scratched his head. _'Uh, maybe it needs to be closed?'_

He closed the lid and tried again. this time when he opened it the shallow tray was gone and in it's place was what looked like the inside of a standard school trunk. Satisfied, he opened the glass case that held the Adventurer's Armor and The Caster and carefully packed everything into it. He closed the trunk and tapped it twice, watching in amazement at it shrinking down to a size to easily fit into a pocket.

 _'I am so replacing my school trunk with this.'_ He thought happily.

Harry walked back over to Grimjaw and said, "I'm finished sir."

Grimjaw looked over his magazine and asked, "what did you get?"

"Two artifacts called the Adventurer's Armor and The Caster, and this trunk." Harry responded, holding up the matchbox sized trunk.

"Ah, yes, very good choices. I'll overlook that trunk probably not being empty because I only saw you open the first compartment, which was empty." Grimjaw said.

Harry blinked. He hadn't thought of that.

Grimjaw chuckled at his expression and reassured him, "it's alright lad. Now let's run by your trust vault and get out of here. I am hungry and it's far past lunchtime.

Harry nodded and the two stepped out of the vault.

Another wild cart ride and Harry was saying goodbye to his account manager after tipping him what the goblin said was a very fair amount, and walking out of the bank.

He had decided to buy the snake that he had spoken to earlier, realizing that if he had had her earlier some portions of his past 'adventures' might have been significantly easier. So he stopped by the Menagerie and paid the ten galleons for her. The shop keeper looked a little uneasy when he just reached into the tank and the little snake crawled up into his sleeve and wrapped around his arm, but shrugged it off easily enough. Apparently he had seen stranger things.

After getting some late lunch at the Leaky Cauldron, he decided to get a haircut and by the time the stylist had finished wrestling the unruly mop on top of his head into something that actually looked kind of cool, it was getting dark. So he headed back to the Leaky Cauldron, Grabbed some dinner and went up to his room.

He talked to the snake, who he had given the name Ari, until he couldn't keep his eyes open anymore. He fell asleep, excited about his newest friend and the amazing magical objects in his new, equally amazing, magic trunk. He couldn't wait until morning to start exploring again.


	2. The trunk, the armor, and the pistol

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, and nobody thinks I do.**

* * *

Harry woke up slowly and stretched with a contented groan, not really feeling any kind of urgency in his sleep fogged mind. He smacked his lips to get his dry mouth producing saliva again and opened his eyes...A small, green, reptilian head with black eyes and a flickering tongue was staring back at him less than six inches from his nose.

"Aaahhh!" Harry gasped, his brain not properly understanding the strange scene in front of him.

He almost flung himself from the bed in his haste to get away from the hostile looking creature, but stopped himself when his brain re-engaged. Still laying down, he glared at Ari, who was hissing and spitting in, what he recognized, as hysterical laughter.

 _$That wasn't very nice,$_ he said with an annoyed look on his face.

 _$You should have seen the look on your face! It looked like Death himself had just asked you to sit down and play chess with him!$_ She responded, still doing a snake version of a chortle.

During their conversation the night before, Harry had discovered that Ari was quite an enigma. She seemed intelligent and wise one moment and the next she would crack lame jokes that would make Fred and George cringe. He liked her a lot, but definitely thought she could work on her sense of humor a little bit.

He looked down at her curled up on his chest and said dryly, _$you're hilarious. I can't wait to introduce you to the twins, maybe they'll be able to give you a few lessons on how to actually be funny.$_

She scoffed and responded loftily, _$as long as I can make myself laugh everything is perfect in my world$_

Harry blinked at that, it actually made some sense to him. He noticed that she had a small lump in the middle of her body and poked at it. He jerked his head back into the pillow as Ari did a closed mouth strike on the tip of his nose.

 _$You don't poke a lady in the belly, you hairless ape!$_ She admonished him.

Harry laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. _$Sorry, sorry. I take it you've had breakfast then?$_

 _$Yes, a small mouse in the entryway to the Alley.$_ She responded, still glaring at him lightly.

Harry's stomach rumbled, reminding him that he had to grab some breakfast of his own. He looked at Ari again and said with concern, _$just be careful going off on your own, I don't want anything to happen to you.$_

 _$I'll be careful, darling, don't you worry about me. I'm like a ghost slithering in the grass.$_ She responded, moving her upper body in a pantomime of slithering. He could tell she was actually touched by his concern, despite her light tone.

He smiled at her antics and said, _$Ok. I'm going to get ready and go downstairs to get some breakfast, then I'll return up here. I want to look my new trunk and the items from my family vault more closely. Do you want to come downstairs with me?$_

 _$Yes, we need to remain close for a few days so we can bond.$_ She replied.

 _$I meant to ask you about that. What exactly does this 'bond' mean?$_ He asked

 _$Hm, I'm not entirely sure on the details, but I'm fairly certain that we won't be able to speak telepathically or anything crazy like that,$_ she said, chuckling. _$I'll probably be able to grow a bit larger than the normal specimen of my species. My venom might get a little stronger, too. Oh, and I'll be able to sniff you out from anywhere. That's really all I can think of.$_

Harry chuckled and spoke teasingly, _$wow, sounds like I got the short end on this deal, all I got was a runty little worm with a lame sense of hum-$_

He didn't get to finish before she did another headbutt strike, this time on his forehead. He laughed.

 _$I'm kidding, I'm kidding.$_ He said, picking her up off his chest, setting her down on the bed and walking to the bathroom to take care of his morning routine, pausing to say good morning to a dozing Hedwig. He chuckled at Ari's grumbling about hairless neanderthals.

With a freshly scrubbed face, newly styled hair, and aforementioned runty worm wrapped around his upper arm under his casual robe sleeves, Harry walked down to the mostly empty dining room.

Tom looked up from wiping down his bar to get ready for the day, saw Harry and greeted him with a toothless, but friendly, smile.

"Mr. Potter! You're up early. May I interest you in some breakfast?" Tom asked.

"Good morning sir, I'll take the usual breakfast, thanks," Harry replied, Taking a seat at his favorite booth.

As he waited, people began coming into the dining room, looking for their own breakfasts.

Over the last few days in the Alley, Harry had discovered people watching. After the initial furor of having the famous Harry Potter staying at the Leaky cauldron died down, people mostly just greeted him when they saw him in the dining room or in the Alley and went about their business. He had observed these people unobtrusively and came to a conclusion; people were hilarious when they thought they weren't being watched, even in a public place.

They didn't do anything disgusting or embarassing, but an observant person, which Harry was, could notice a pattern in the way people interacted with one person and interacted completely different with another person. It was highly amusing to his teenage mind, and he had learned a lot about the social structure of the wizarding populace. The Leaky Cauldron was a meeting place of all kinds of people, a neutral ground, where the wealthy could meet with a contact about a business deal in a private parlor, or a humanoid magical being that was normally discriminated against could grab a bite to eat without almost anyone batting an eye.

Harry knew there were some types of people in the wizarding world who actually hated places like this, mostly because they saw it as beneath them. It was a minority, a vocal minority to be sure, but a minority all the same. Most people who lived in the wizarding world full time, frequented the Alley and, by extension, The Leaky Cauldron. They were the very definition of a cultural center. The Cauldron and Diagon Alley hade been there, in the same spot for centuries and would probably be there for centuries more.

Harry's Breakfast arrived, breaking him from his internal monologue that was sounding suspiciously like a history essay. He thanked Tom and dug in with gusto. Once he was finished he sat back contentedly in his booth for a few more minutes, feeling Ari wrapped snugly around his arm with her head on his shoulder, napping away her own large meal.

After paying for his breakfast and leaving a tip on the table, Harry returned to his own room, eager to look at the things he had gotten from his vault the day before. He shucked off his robes leaving him in his hand-me-down jeans, frayed trainers, and overlarge shirt. Catching a glimpse of himself in the mirror that was right next to the bathroom door, he resolved to go buy some new clothes.

 _'I'll do that later. Now is the time to check out this marvelous trunk,'_ he thought, with a gleam in his eye.

He grabbed the still shrunken trunk off of the night stand, where he had placed it the night before, and placed it on the floor. Tapping it to return it to it's normal size, he inspected the outside, taking note of the ornate keyholes and the stylized Potter "P" on the front and top.

Satisfied that the outside had no more discernable secrets he grabbed the keys from his pocket and inserted the numbered one key into it's appropriate keyhole. With a soft, mechanical ''snick," he opened the first compartment to see the Adventurer's Armor and The Caster still in the exact same positions he had packed them in the day before. Not wanting to get distracted from the trunk, he placed the armor and Caster neatly on the bed, thinking to return to them after he had looked at all of the compartments of the trunk.

He closed the lid on the now empty first compartment and produced the second key. With the same sound as before, he opened the lid, holding his breath in anticipation. He whistled appreciatively at the contents.

One half of the slightly magically expanded compartment had a large cauldron with several incrementally smaller cauldrons stacked neatly inside of it as well as a precision brass scale set with corresponding weights of obvious quality. The cauldrons seemed to be made of different materials from iron to pewter, with the smallest made from, what looked like, solid gold. Shaking his head and not even knowing where to begin thinking about what specialized potions the cauldrons could be necessary for, he looked over to the other side of the compartment.

Seeing a leather strap that just seemed to beg to be pulled, he grasped it and pulled up, watching in amazement as a rack with all manner of potions ingredients easily responded. The ingredients were alphabetically arranged and seemed to include ingredients that he had never heard of, much less know what they did in a potion. After the rack was completely pulled out, it extended forward like an accordian to conveniently display all of the ingredients in an easily accesible manner. Briefly wondering how the ingredients stayed fresh, and figuring it was probably runes or charms, he looked at the different vials and saw more than enough amounts of a standard student potions kit to last him probably for the remainder of his time in Hogwarts. He saw a few empty jars of some other things, including, to his surprise, empty jars labeled _Basilisk: venom, Basilisk: blood,_ and _Basilisk: crushed fang_.

Thinking he maybe needed to take another trip down to the Chamber of Secrets to fill them up, he returned the obvious master class potion kit to it's storage configuration and then closed the lid on the second compartment.

He sat back and thought about what he had just found in this increasingly valuable trunk. It was true that 'Professor' Snape had almost killed any interest he may have initially had in potion-brewing, but he had to ask himself, _'should I really let some bitter old man ruin what could be an incredibly useful skill for me?'_

 _'No, I should not,'_ Harry resolved. _'I'll control myself in his class better and not rise to his baiting. I'll see if I can find some supplemental reading about the art and go from there. If he wont teach properly, I'll just learn how to do them myself.'_

With a firm nod, Harry grabbed the numbered three key, inserted it into it's hole, and turned. With that satisfying sound the third compartment opened up. Flush with the top edge of the inside were three different slats of handsome dark-colored wood with the same type of leather straps attached to each of them. Seeing the gist, Harry grabbed the first one and pulled. His eyes widened at the sight of a bookshelf, taller than the trunk was deep, rising up and locking into place. The bookshelf had five individual shelves, each packed full of books.

Upon closer inspection, the books all seemed to be about potion-brewing. Smaller books detailing individual potions, larger books about several, and huge tomes about dozens of different potions. Harry's eybrows raised at the recognizable spine of _Moste potente potions_ , a book he knew to be in the restricted section of the Hogwarts library. There was also a huge book called _Reaction tables: How ingredients interact_.

 _'Well, I guess I don't have to search for those supplementary potions books after all. Whoever owned this trunk before sure liked his potions. Hermione's gonna have an orgasm when I show her these.'_ Harry's eyes widened and he blushed with a guilty sounding giggle at the slightly perverted thought.

Shaking his head again to get back on track, he pushed the first shelf down and pulled the second one up. This shelf seemed to be split on several different subjects. He could see books about arithmancy, ancient runes, charms, wards, and standard spells. The bottom shelf was devoted to several large books that looked a little dark to his naive eyes. He looked closely at these and noted some of the titles.

 _Defense: Dark rituals, Defense: Unforgivables, Defense: Lethal Curses, Guarding and attacking the mind,_ and _Dark arts vs Battle Magicks: The fine line._

 _'I wonder what Battle Magicks are. I've never heard the term before. Guess I'll have to read that book to find out.'_ He thought, closing the second shelf.

Opening the third shelf was a bit anticlimactic, mostly because it was empty. He figured that's where he would put all of his school books whenever he got around to shopping for them.

He closed the third compartment and stretched. Standing up to walk around for a bit and winding up by Hedwig and scratching that spot she loved, his eyes fell on the armor and strange gun that he had grabbed. He was very tempted to look closer at them, but really wanted to get through the amazing trunk first. He pulled his eyes from the enticing artifacts and looked back at the trunk.

Harry walked over to the trunk, produced the fourth key, and slid it into the lock, eagerly anticipating what he would find in the fourth compartment.

Opening the lid, he saw a wooden dowel running from one end of the inside to the other, it too had a leather strap to pull. Raising the dowel revealed a few fancy looking robes hanging on coat hangers in vellum protectors. He figured maybe the fancy robes were for parties or something like that.

 _'Maybe these'll come in handy some day.'_ He thought, pushing the dowel down and closing the lid.

The fifth Compartment opened up to reveal an empty chest of drawers for more casual robes and clothes that pulled up with the ever-present leather strap.

The sixth compartment confused him for a split second because it just pulled up a deep shelf that was empty. He noticed more runes around the edges, but had no idea what they meant until he looked at the very top and saw the words _'Food Cupboard'._

 _'I'll bet those runes make stuff placed on the shelf stay fresh. I'll fill it up when I return to the Dursleys next year, then I won't starve from Dudley's rabbit-food diet. I wonder if it is forever or if there is a time limit. Maybe I should take runes this year. I did hear some older kids complaining about Divination being a terrible class. Maybe I'll write McGonagall and ask her what she thinks.'_ He pondered, closing the sixth compartment

Taking a deep breath, Harry slid the final key into the final hole and opened it up. He looked down and saw what looked like stone steps leading down. Greatly confused and wondering just what in the world this trunk had in store for him now, he climbed in and proceeded down the steps.

After thirteen narrow steps Harry's Jaw dropped as he took in the newest marvel. A large circular room, about twenty-one feet in diameter was seemingly carved out of solid stone. There were numerous dark-colored tapestries hanging off of the walls, offsetting the cold stone walls, and different rugs doing the same for the floor. Immediately across the room was a queen-sized four-poster with a bunch of fluffy looking pillows. Next to the bed was a small alcove with a heavy black curtain hanging in front of it. To his left was a long desk that conformed to the circular shape of the room and sat flush against the wall. Across from the desk was a small, cold fireplace with a decent stack of wood in front of it. The whole room was bathed in soft light from a magical light on the ceiling.

The fireplace confused him, so he walked over to look up the chimney and saw what looked like more runes lining the short shaft that ended abruptly, going nowhere. Shaking his head, Harry walked over to the alcove and pushed open the curtain, not really surprised to see a toilet, stand-up shower, and a wash basin in the compact alcove. More runes, he guessed, provided the water and waste removal.

The bed was more comfortable than anything he'd ever slept in and he was almost tempted to take a nap, but he figured he had too much to do at the moment. He walked over to the desk and was surprised yet again to see a folded piece of parchment sitting on the otherwise empty desk. He opened it up.

 _Just another tip, DO NOT leave your keys outside while you are in this compartment. The trunk cannot be shrunk while a person is in this room, but it sure as hell can be locked. Don't be that bloke._

Harry blinked and rushed up the stairs and out of the room. He sighed in relief and started laughing uncontrollably.

He couldn't believe his luck, the trunk was amazing, and it provided numerous possibilities. When he was inevitably returned to the Dursley's, he could hide his trunk by shrinking it so Vernon couldn't lock his stuff in the cupboard under the stairs. If Vernon asked, which he probably wouldn't care to, he could just say that he'd asked one of his friends to look after his stuff during the summer.

He could put the trunk in the closet and use it to his heart's content, even do his homework or any extra studies in the room in the seventh compartment. Neither Vernon nor Petunia ever went into his room so they wouldn't find it. Oh, yes, Harry was definitely excited.

Harry calmed himself down, and finally settled his eyes on the armor and Caster on his bed. He walked over to it and picked up the vest. It was made of some kind of leather that he didn't recognize. Matte Black like the rest of the pieces in color, it seemed to absorb any light that hit it. Soft and supple, it flowed almost like well worn denim, not at all hard and stiff like one would expect leather to be. The opening at the front could be closed by straps and buckles made from a black metal. Raised ridges lined the arm holes, neck hole, and waist. Upon closer inspection the ridges themselves were lined in numerous tiny runes of indecipherable purpose.

Marveling at the exceptional craftsmanship that must have gone into making just the vest, he set it down and picked up the bracers. Like he suspected yesterday, the right bracer had a wand holster built in. Both bracers had the same ridges and runes that the vest had lining both sides, they were both a little stiffer than the vest had been.

He set the bracers down and picked up the pants. Like the vest, it was almost impossibly soft and supple. The pants had extra long belt loops to fit the rather wide belt. The same ridges and runes were present as well.

The boots were made with straps and buckles instead of laces, and seemed in perfect condition, despite also seeming well worn. They would reach up to his mid calf when he put them on. More runes covered them.

The belt was wide and the holster for the caster could slide off of it to put through the loops on the pants, or to just leave it off.

He picked up the Caster, the feeling of holding a handgun alien to his Young British hands. Harry really only knew of one thing about any kind of gun, don't ever point it at something you aren't willing to destroy. He remembered that from a television public service anouncement he had heard at Mrs. Figg's house during one of the many times she had babysat him when he was younger while the Dursleys did something fun. Good thing too, it seemed important.

The Caster was about eight inches long, a dull bronze color and a barrel he could stick his thumb into, not that he would do such a thing. The grip was ridged for comfort with some kind of black wood lining the sides. He didn't feel comfortable touching the trigger, so he left it alone. The rear of the gun had a lever that looked like it could move, so he pushed up and almost dropped the thing when small circular gears on both sides of the gun just on top of the grip turned and the whole rear clicked and raised up with the lever. Harry looked into the opened chamber, his heart still beating from the unexpected action. He decided to put the Caster away until read the little booklet he had found in his vault with the armor and gun.

After putting away the Caster in the first compartment of his new trunk, Harry moved back to the armor. Deciding he had waited long enough, he stripped off his clothes down to his boxers and placed a still snoozing Ari on a clear spot on the bed. Hedwig watched curiously as he put the pants on first, then moved to the vest and bracers, finishing with the belt and boots leaving the Caster holster off the belt for the time being. Like he expected, everything was a bit too big to fit him and he wondered if there was something special he had to do to activate the self-fitting runes His ancestor had mentioned. That proved to be unnecessary when he buckled the last buckle on the last boot and the whole outfit flashed and shrunk to fit him perfectly.

Harry rushed over to the mirror and looked at himself.

 _'This...is the coolest thing...I have ever seen.'_ He thought, with a huge smile on his face.

The armor had an intimidating look in it's simplicity. Harry was skinny, but with wiry muscle from two years of quidditch practice and playing and the armor seemed to highlight that. The pants were just a little loose and tucked straight into the tops of the boots, he didn't remember tucking them in like that but he shrugged it off. The vest was flush against his torso, skin tight without being constricting. All in all, Harry was pleased and he sent a silent thank you to the afterlife towards his many great grand-aunt.

His stomach growled and he looked at the clock above the fireplace and saw that it was lunchtime, he had spent more time in the trunk and with the armor than he thought.

Harry picked up the still sleeping Ari and wrapped her around his upper arm and, still wearing the armor, put on his casual robes. He walked downstairs and greeted Tom at the bar.

''Hey Tom, mind if I grab some lunch?" Harry asked.

"Of course, Mr. Potter! Have a seat anywhere you like. The usual?" Tom replied with his typical exuberance.

"Yes please, and thank you." Harry responded, heading over to his normal booth.

Lunch hour was usually busier than breakfast so he could engage in his newest hobby even more effectively. He sat and watched while he waited and noticed many people coming into the pub and going straight out into the Alley. This wasn't anything unusual though, it was a Saturday. He had been in the alley almost a full week, with two more weeks left to go. Hermione would be coming home from her trip in the middle of next week, Ron a few days after that. He missed them terribly and couldn't wait to see them and show them his family heirlooms. Ron would probably call everything 'wicked!' and Hermione would salivate over the books and the armor while simultaneously shooting disapproving glares at the Caster.

Harry chuckled at that thought, glad that he finally had people that he knew well enough to predict their reactions to things. It helped him get over his lonely childhood.

Tom arrived with his food and Harry thanked him and tucked in. As he was eating he suddenly felt like he was being watched. He surreptitiously glanced around him and his eyes caught the eyes of his would be watcher. A very pretty girl quickly glanced away when she saw that she had been caught. She was about his age and he thought he recognized her from his year at school, although he couldn't quite place her name. The girl glanced back at him and he quickly averted his eyes with a small blush. She was very pretty, with wavy raven hair pulled back in a loose ponytail, ocean-blue eyes, and full (for her age anyway) pink lips. Harry had absolutely no experience with females of a non-best-friend relation, but that didn't mean he wasn't against trying.

He caught her eye again and gave her a small, shy smile. He hoped he didn't just make an arse of himself.

Nope! she smiled back! And the crowd goes wild! Harry felt like he had just caught the snitch in the final game of the season, winning Gryffindor the quidditch cup. He quickly calmed himself down, though, when he realized his internal monologue was sounding awfully like Lee Jordan getting the Gryffindor fans to chant his last name over and over and he was being quite ridiculous. But, then again, it was his first minor flirtation victory and he felt he deserved a pat on the back.

He glanced back to her table and noticed it was now empty, with Tom heading over to it to clean up, A little startled, his eyes darted around the room and he caught her heading to the floo with, who he thought were her parents, he hadn't noticed them before.

She didn't glance back at him again until she had thrown her floo powder in the fireplace. When she did, she had a small, amused smile on her face, like she knew exactly what he was thinking and thought it cute. Then she did a small twinkling of her fingers at him and swirled away in a flash of green flames.

Harry chuckled at himself, it felt good to have just a tiny amount of flirty fun and he looked forward to doing it again sometime. Maybe next time he could actually keep his head on straight and amuse the girl by being witty and funny and not inexperienced and awkward.

 _'I doubt it though,'_ he thought with an amused shake of his head. _'Something tells me that stuff like that will happen quite often.'_

Oh well.

Not really feeling like going back up to his room at the moment, Harry walked out into the Alley, marveling at the feeling of the soft leather of his armor against his skin.

He decided to see if he could find some one to see about some new glasses. Looking around the Alley, he spotted a promising looking sign. He walked in and saw a middle-aged woman standing over a cauldron behind the counter.

She looked at him and said, "just a tick, luv."

Harry nodded and looked around the store, noticing that the few glasses that were in the display cases seemed to more along the lines of some Professor Dumbledore would wear.

He heard the lady take her cauldron off the fire and turned around to see if she was done.

She smiled at him and said, "I'm Healer Camellia, can I help you hun?''

''Yes ma'am, I was hoping to get some new glasses or maybe even see if there was something I could do to fix my eyes permanently." He replied, smiling back at her.

"Well, it depends," she said, beckoning him into a back room. ''Some things we can fix, some things we can't. Fortunately for you, most of the stuff we can't fix is mostly for older people."

''Sit.'' She said, pointing to a chair. "I'll run some diagnostics that will tell me if our potion will work."

Ten seconds of her chanting and a light green light, and Harry was holding a vial in his hands.

"You'll want to take that before you go to bed. It will put you to sleep, which is a good thing, because if it didn't, the burning pain would drive you crazy." She explained, with a smile on her face.

A little disturbed, but still excited about getting rid of his blasted glasses, Harry thanked the rather blunt healer and walked out of the shop.

 _'Now what do I do?'_ He thought. _'Maybe now would be a good time to shop for my school supplies."_

Nodding to himself, he ran back to his room at the Cauldron to grab his school list. Pausing just as he was about to head out the door again, he caught sight of his trunk. He thought about the runes that made up much of it's functionality and the runes that covered the armor he was currently wearing that he had no idea of the functionality of.

Making a decision, he penned a quick note to Professor McGonagall, asking if he could drop divination and take runes instead. He thought about dropping Care Of Magical Creatures too, to take arithmancy, but thought better of it. Nor did he want to take three electives. He was definitely interested in Magical Creatures, so he decided to keep it and maybe study arithmancy in his free time if he was interested. Surely, Hermione would be delighted to impart some of her knowledge on the subject.

After sending Hedwig with his note, he ran out of his room. He spent the rest of the day getting his school supplies, including the beginner's Ancient Runes text, he really didn't foresee a problem dropping divination. By the time he was finished getting some new robes and, surprisingly, some modern muggle clothes from Madam Malkin's, it was getting dark and he was getting exhausted.

Chuckling at his horrible 'foresee' pun probably way to many times for such a bad pun, he made his way to dinner.

Harry didn't really people watch, being so tired. He was quiet during dinner.

He finished his meal and trudged up the stairs to his room. Penning a couple of notes to Ron and Hermione while conversing lightly with Ari sapped the last bit of his energy, so he took off his armor, downed his potion and collapsed into bed in just his boxers, not even bothering with pajamas.

* * *

 **Let me know what you think. Reviews are almost like having friends.**


	3. Edith's genius

Chapter 3: Edith's genius

 **I do not own Harry Potter**

* * *

Harry woke with a start, his eyes shooting open and immediately shutting with a grimace of discomfort. That healer lady certainly wasn't kidding about the burning. Add on a nightmare about a giant snake with two faces, and Harry wasn't starting off with a good morning.

With his eyes still shut, Harry rose up into a sitting position and slowly opened one eye. When the burning subsided, he slowly cracked open his other eye. Both eyes now open, Harry blinked hard a few times to clear out any residual burning and looked around the room. He noticed everything seemed even more clear than when he had on his glasses, which made sense, because he was sure that they weren't his appropriate prescription anyway.

Looking around the room, he spotted Ari curled up at the foot of the bed and Hedwig resting on her perch. Letters were deposited on the desk, ready to be read. The sunlight streaming through the window indicating that it was a bit later than he was used to waking up. He attributed this to the potion that, so far, seemed to be living up to expectations.

Harry wasn't really surprised that the potion had worked, Madam Pomfrey had regrown the bones in his arm, after all. The ease in which she accomplished that indicated that it was just another day in the Hogwarts infirmary. Medicine in the wizarding world was pretty impressive.

 _$Are you ok, darling?$_ Ari asked, slithering into his lap and looking up at him.

 _$Yeah, just a stupid nightmare.$_ He responded. _$On the bright side, I don't need glasses anymore. No wonder you hardly see anyone in the wizarding world wearing glasses. I know my dad wore them, maybe he had a condition that he couldn't get fixed with a potion.$_

 _$I wouldn't know, but it seems a likely explanation.$_ Ari said.

 _$I'm going to take a shower and then get some breakfast.$_ Harry said. _$Is there anything you want to do today?$_

 _$No, I'm more than content to just curl around your arm while you go about your business like we've been doing.$_ Ari replied.

Harry chuckled and got up to go take a shower, pausing to give Hedwig her customary good morning scratch.

After his shower and getting dressed, Harry walked down to the dining room to get some breakfast. Tom greeted him in his usual manner. After a short conversation about how he was enjoying his stay, Harry ate quickly and went back up to his room.

He planned to finally read Edith's booklet to learn more about the armor and the Caster. As he was about to pick it up off the nightstand where he had left it, Harry remembered the letter he had sent to McGonagall the day before. He turned around and walked to the desk, picking up the three letters, and sure enough, McGonagall had written him back. Eagerly tearing open the envelope, Harry read the contents.

 _Mr. Potter,_

 _While it is indeed possible to change your electives, I would have preferred to have a bit more notice than two weeks before term starts. Nonetheless, your schedule has been adjusted accordingly. Please make sure you have all appropriate materials for your selected class and do read ahead a bit, most students have had all summer to prepare. I expect you to perform in a manner befitting your house._

 _Professor McGonagall._

Rolling his eyes at the prim and proper writing, Harry still had a smile on his face. He was very much looking forward to learning about runes. If the trunk and armor were any indication, the possibilities were astounding. He couldn't wait to get started.

Picking up the other two letters from Ron and Hermione, he quickly read them and penned responses accordingly. He told them about dropping divination and him having something to show them when he saw them. Finishing, he placed his responses on the desk to give to Hedwig when she awoke from her nap.

Satisfied, he again walked over to the nightstand and picked up Edith's booklet. It was small, and not very thick, but he was sure there was going to be priceless information contained within. Just knowing he was about to read words written by one of his ancestors was enough to send tingles of excitement down his spine. Making himself comfortable on the bed, Harry cracked open to the second page. Skipping the part about the auto-sizing runes he began to read.

 _Other than the sizing runes, the very first thing you should know about my armor is...that I do not know what it is made of._

Harry deadpanned. His ancestor seemed like a character.

 _I suppose it would be a bit more accurate to say that the monstrosity the skin came from, that I had to drop half of a mountain on to kill, was and still is, to my knowledge, unidentified by any other person. Nowhere in my research, was a beast quite like it described. After exhausting every literary source at my disposal, I was forced to make the assumption that it was some abomination that some half-wit dark lord had cooked up and was then killed by._

 _I had been searching for wizarding ruins in the western sector of an area that the muggles amusingly called The New World, when a branch snapped. I quickly spun around and spotted a black blur approaching at a startling speed. I rolled out of the way, and stood to face my attacker. It had paused, emitting a strange clicking noise, as if it couldn't understand why I was still moving. The beast had stood at least twelve feet high on two inverted legs. Black as night, the thing seemed to suck the light out of the forest by its very presence. Its speed was something to envy and I was very nearly decapitated at least thrice by it's foot long claws on six fingered hands during our half hour long battle. A six foot long barbed tail and a head that resembled the maw of a giant lizard with razor sharp teeth only added to my troubles. Spells, even the nastiest curses I could think of, had no effect and I was just barely able to slow it down using battle transfiguration and the surrounding environment. Spot to spot apparition kept me half a step ahead, but nothing I tried could get through its bloody skin. By using Caster and wand alike, I was finally able to maneuver it into a position next to a cliff. I then used a water wave cartridge to push it up against the cliff, and then a bombarda maxima to bring the cliff face down onto it. The creature was buried under tonnes of rock and finally slain. After catching my breath, and changing my knickers, I began the slow work of digging it out and to my surprise, the skin was still unbroken! Closer inspection confirmed that its skeletal structure was crushed._

Harry whistled, absolutely engrossed in the thrilling tale. Suddenly, a basilisk didn't seem all that bad. He would have been screwed had Slytherin's monster been one of those things.

 _I was intrigued! Never before had I come across a creature with a skin tougher than its bones. Needless to say, I immediately saw the potential for possibly the strongest armor in existence. Once I had the beast excavated, I levitated the corpse into a transfigured crate and began my long journey home. During the journey, I had decided to call the monster a Nightmare, for the battle surely inspired a number of them._

 _After arriving home, I began a process that took me nearly two years to complete. I had wanted the perfect armor suited to an explorer, light and tough. What I had managed to create exceeded all expectations, for I had found that the skin was perfect for rune carving, with a diamond-tipped chisel, mind you. Using the most advanced runic arrays and transfigurations I could come up with, I sealed the full armor into it's default form._

 _Using even more arrays, transfigurations, and charms than anything I had created before, I created four other forms of the armor suited to different situations that could befall an active adventurer. The arithmancy was yet another nightmare that I had to contend with and I spent many sleepless nights in front of several blackboards trying to make it all work._

 _'Arithmancy?'_ Harry thought. _'Dammit, now I want to learn that too.'_

It was at this point that Harry had a small epiphany. He had known there was still a lot to learn about magic, of course, but the fact that there were whole branches of magic that he had absolutely no knowledge of was a bit humbling.

Now that he knew that arithmancy went into his armor, and probably his trunk too, he really wanted to learn it.

 _'I only hope that Professor McGonagall doesn't turn me into a canary for bothering her with yet another schedule change.'_ He cringed at the thought.

Shaking his head, he set his book down and walked over to the desk to write another letter and hope for the best. He tried to sound as contrite as possible to, maybe, soften the stern teacher up a bit, citing worries about Hermione being petrified and stress from the whole Chamber of Secrets fiasco as reasons for his indecisiveness. When It sounded grovely enough, he sealed the letter and called Hedwig, who had woken up when he was reading, over. She seemed pleased to get three letters and nipped his ear affectionately as she took flight out of the window.

That bit done, he returned to his spot on the bed and picked the booklet back up. Turning to the appropriate page, he began to read again.

 _The five different forms, or contingencies, are as follows:_

 _1\. Default- The standard form. With the armor in separate pieces, this form provides protection to the vital areas of the body. Will protect against most low to mid level curses. It also looks rather stylish, if I do say so myself._

Harry smiled. His 'Aunt Edith', as he was now referring to her as, was awesome.

 _2\. Aquatic- Used for underwater exploration. The boots extend into flippers and the bracers extend into webbed gloves. A tight-fitting cowl extends from the vest to cover the head, stopping just past the eyes. A runic schema in the cowl provides for low light visibility, and other schema provides a standard bubble charm covering the mouth and nose for breathing. I couldn't make a schema for warming charms fit, so you're on your own there._

 _'Looks like someone is going to explore the Black Lake. Maybe I'll find sunken treasure!'_ Harry thought excitedly.

All of this reading of adventuring was stirring his blood. It felt a bit different reading about the exploits of one of his own ancestors from reading a fantasy novel or the likes. He recognized the feeling as what he had felt working through the traps in his first year, or discovering the Chamber of Secrets in his second. A bit muted, perhaps, due to the fear in the situations, but there all the same. He liked it.

 _3\. Toxic- One never knows when ancient wizards, looking to protect their secrets, will have set a trap that releases a toxic gas. This form is similar to the aquatic form, without the flippers or webbed gloves. Sleeves extend from the vest to cover the arms and the whole suit seals tight._

 _4\. Stealth- For when one has to sneak around for honorable reasons, or less than honorable reasons, just don't be too bad. The cowl extends just past the eyes to provide low light visibility. Runic schema provides silencing and scent-masking to hide from hunting animals. Best used in conjunction with the old Potter invisibility cloak._

 _'She can't possibly be referring to the invisibility cloak that I have now, could she?'_ Harry wondered. _'Just how old is that thing?'_

 _5\. Heavy combat- Sometimes, diplomacy fails, it's a fact of life. When one has to become impervious to just about everything, except for the unforgivable curses, this form is what you need. The armor seals completely, the cowl covers the whole head and becomes transparent from the inside. You can tap at your temple to activate a low-light visibility function, as well. Unfortunately, enough blunt force will hurt, so it's still better to dodge a boulder being banished at you, or maybe someone dropping a cliff face on you, or even a dragon crunching you in its maw. The tough outer layer won't stop you from becoming mush in those cases. You'll be mush wearing a marvelous suit of armor that will barely have a scratch, but mush all the same, and that's no fun, just ask the creature whose skin you're wearing._

Harry deadpanned yet again. Then he chuckled. Then he burst out into full laughter. Ari raised her head at the noise and stared at him before shaking her head and going back to her nap.

Still chuckling, Harry looked back down at the book.

 _I guess you are wondering how to access all of these fantastical forms. It is relatively simple. All you have to do is say these words: "Activate contingency,'' followed by the form of your choice. to return to the default form, just say, "Default."_

Harry stood up, put on the armor, and went to the mirror, eager to try one of the forms. Taking a second to deliberate which one, he took a deep breath and said, "Activate contingency: heavy combat."

The effects were instantaneous. He watched as sleeves seemed to roll out from the small ridges and flow down his arm, stopping at the bracers and sealing tight. The ridges on the bracers rolled down his hands and sealed into gloves. Looking in the mirror, he saw the bottom of the vest roll down to his calves and flare out. The cowl flowed up and over the crown of his head and sealed at the neckline, blacking out his vision for a split-second before becoming as clear as if there were nothing there at all. The whole process took less than 3 seconds.

"Woah.'' Harry said, admiring the form. The cowl followed the contours of his head and the vest had extended into a trench-coat, leaving him looking a bit creepy. It was like he didn't have a face, but he could see perfectly. The effect was a bit disconcerting.

All-in-all, it cut an imposing figure, even as vertically challenged as he was.

Harry turned in the mirror, feeling how his range of motion wasn't impeded in the least before saying the deactivation phrase and watching everything reverse itself until he was standing in the default form like nothing had happened at all.

 _$Aunty Edith was a freaking genius!$_ He exclaimed to Ari, who had woken up to watch the whole spectacle in silence.

 _$It does seem to be an impressive bit of magic, maybe she left a bit of extra skin somewhere, you can find it and make me some armor as well.$_ Ari replied.

Harry chuckled and said, _$I think that would be a bit out of my league at present time.$_

 _$Fine, don't protect your precious familiar.$_ She huffed, giving the impression of crossing her arms petulantly, if she had any.

 _$Aw, don't be like that. Just stick close to me and I'll protect you.$_ He cooed.

 _$My hero_.She said dryly. _$Are you going to go to lunch today? Because it's lunchtime.$_

Harry looked at the clock and said, _$so it is, come on then.$_

Scooping her up to wrap around his arm in her, now, customary place, Harry picked up his wand and put it in the bracer. He put on his outer robes and walked out the door.

When he got to the dining room, he was surprised to see two girls he knew from his house at school, Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil, sitting at a table talking together animatedly.

He was a bit more surprised when they spotted him and enthusiastically waved him over. They never really conversed all that much at school, usually limiting to the usual social niceties of students in the same house who saw each other every day and going no further.

Figuring there was no time like the present to remedy that travesty, he walked over to their table and, trying to be as smooth as possible, said, "hey ladies, fancy seeing you here."

He immediately wanted to kick himself for such a terrible greeting, and then wondered when he started worrying about terrible greetings at all.

The girls seemed to understand in that way that teenage girls understood that teenage boys were just a bit slow when it came to interacting with the opposite sex and, depending on how they felt about you, could grant mercy or crush said teenage boy's fragile ego with but a few words.

Luckily, they seemed to be in a merciful mood today and after their giggling subsided Lavender said, "hey Harry, we like to come here a few times a summer to do some shopping and get away from our parent's houses. What are you doing here?"

"I've, um, kind of been living here for a week now." He responded, looking a little embarrassed.

"What? Why?'' Parvati asked for the both of them.

"Ah, just, uh, a little disagreement with my relatives. No big deal. We just needed some time away from each other." Harry responded, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

The girls seemed to gather that he really didn't want to talk about it and had to visibly restrain themselves from launching into an interrogation.

"Well, pull up a chair and have lunch with us.'' Lavender invited.

"Sure, I'd like that." He said, smiling.

What followed, was something Harry really, really had no experience in; gossiping. The girls talked to each other, mostly, about everything from Sirius Black to the newest fashion crazes coming out of wizarding France. Harry interjected whenever they were talking about a subject that he knew about, but for the most part seemed to just be there for decoration.

That lasted until they asked him about the rumors they had heard about the Chamber of Secrets. Harry was a little uncomfortable talking about it, but obliged with a slightly watered down version of the tale. He left mentions of Ginny out and slightly altered the characteristics of the diary. The girls were all audience throughout his tale, gasping in all the right places, and even cheering when he told about Fawkes healing his arm.

He knew they would probably repeat the story to anyone who would listen. Honestly though, Harry wasn't really worried about it. If people believed then great, if not, oh well. He did feel a little pride at the whole thing; it wasn't every twelve year old who could survive such a thing, much less win. And he had won. He had been prepared to die, and the only reason he survived was because Fawkes was there. He survived, though, and saved his best-friend's sister. Harry had a feeling that his Aunt Edith would have been proud.

The trio talked a little more until the girls said they wanted to get on with their shopping. They had invited Harry along, but something about the gleam in their eyes told him that it would be very taxing on him. He politely begged off, and the three parted company. The girls heading out to the Alley and Harry to his room.

Back in his room, Harry kicked off his outer robes and his boots and got comfortable to continue reading about the two artifacts.

 _So, you've finished reading about the armor, played with it a bit, even, and now you want to know_ _about the wonderful little tool called the Caster._

 _I dreamed up the Caster after studying what muggles called a muzzleloader, sometime in my twenties. Their version required that flashpowder be poured down the "barrel" and then packed with a small wad of parchment, a little lead ball was then rammed down the "barrel."_

 _With a piece of flint on a mechanism, a spark was produced, which ignited the flashpowder. The resulting pressure propelled the lead ball forward at extreme speeds. My natural curiosity wondered if perhaps a magical version could be created, so I procured a muzzleloader of my own and experimented with it. After a few months of prototypes blowing up in my face, I finally thought to use self contained cartridges with runic schema designed for varying effects that would be more powerful than what could be achieved by the average witch or wizard with a wand. The Caster itself wasn't all that difficult to design; all it needed to do was carry the cartridge and discharge it on command. There are definitely more efficient designs that I could have gone with, but there was just something... Elegant in the original Muggle design._

 _The cartridges were another story. Never before had there been self contained apparatuses that discharged effects designed to be offensive in nature. Of course, there were numerous wards created that had some nasty effects, but they were for dwellings or tombs and always defensive in nature. Wizards and witches were more content to rely on a wand to cast offensive spells. The challenge came in miniaturizing the runic schema that discharged these effects while making them work on command instead of when certain conditions were met._

 _I finally finished my first cartridge eight months after originally sitting down at my desk. The others came promptly after that and I settled on seven types of cartridges._

 _1\. Spread stunner- This cartridge is useful for large groups of medium sized mundane predators like wolves. Sometimes you can't just apparate away, and those packs can get quite large. It will also work on the smaller class 3 or lower magical creatures_

 _2\. Single stunner- Useful for larger mundane predators or magical creatures. It is more powerful than one cast by a wand, but for some creatures a second or even third shot is required. For some creatures, it won't work at all._

 _3\. Flame shot- More powerful than a standard incendio, less diverse than a flame whip._

 _4 Gravity bomb- Useful for subduing stunner resistant creatures without killing them. This cartridge increases the gravity in the target area, making it very difficult to move. It doesn't last long._

 _5\. Lightning blast- Shoots a bolt of lightning that can arc from enemy to enemy if they are close enough together._

 _6\. Gust- Blows enemies away._

 _7\. Water wave- Creates a small tidal wave. This one can be used in conjunction with #5 to increase damage._

 _The cartridges are loaded into the Caster through the rear chamber one at a time and activated by the trigger. The trigger has two stages. If pulled through the two stages quickly, a quick shot with limited damage is discharged. If pulled into stage one and held there, a more powerful shot is discharged._

 _Shells #3-7 can be made more powerful by the trigger stages. The Caster does have a magical cost to the user, and the longer the trigger is held in stage one, the greater the magical cost to the user. There is, however, a limit to the power that the runic schema can hold. If the barrel flashes red, then that limit is reached and the shell will discharge._

 _Unfortunately, the shells have a limited shelf life, usually about 3 years, so the prospective user has to have a moderate understanding of runes in order to construct their own cartridges. I've included the plans for the seven cartridges in the back of this booklet. Also, I've placed my journal, transfigured into a page, as the very last page of this booklet. Simply strike through the schema with a quill and it will transfigure back._

 _I leave these tools to the next adventuresome Potter, use them well._

Intrigued, Harry turned to the next few pages and saw the plans for the cartridges. They were incredibly complex, and he was suddenly glad that he had decided to take runes. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to use the gifts that his ancestor had left.

He turned to the last page and struck through the runes he saw there with a quill. The page promptly turned into a leather-bound journal with a gold embossed "E.P." on the cover. Almost reverently, he cracked the book open.

His ancestor had apparently started the journal when she had just left Hogwarts. Her writing was smooth and when she described the ruins she had found or the ancient tombs she had broken into, it was almost as if he could smell the forests or the deserts that she was describing.

Harry put down the journal after a couple of hours of reading. His ancestor had written about the most amazing things, and he found himself wanting to follow in her footsteps. It didn't feel the same as when he was younger and wanted to be an astronaut after they did a project on the moon landing in primary.

Growing up with the Dursleys had been a sheltered existence. They had never brought him on their numerous vacations, instead, leaving him with Mrs. Figg, so he hadn't seen much of the muggle world. When he had discovered his being a wizard, a whole new world had opened up. A world where just about anything was possible. A world of Magic the likes you only read about. Harry intended to see as much of it as was possible.

He knew there were dangers. You couldn't slide down an ancient slide to fight an ancient monster in a school and not realize it. But he also knew that people had lived in this world for countless millennia, and they had been alright. It seemed backwards, in some cases, from the Muggle world, but it did have its own charm. Just not for the faint of heart.

He shook his head out of his introspection and got up to stretch, peeling Ari off his arm and idly running her through his hands.

 _$Something wrong?$_ She asked.

 _$Nah, I was just thinking about the world$_ He said, smiling softly.

 _$That sounds a little deep for a lazy Sunday.$_ She mused teasingly.

 _$Yeah, yeah.$_ He rolled his eyes. _$How about we go out and get some air?$_

 _$Sure, darling, You do need to get out of here.$_ She said, wrapping around her place on his arm.

The two spent the rest of the day exploring the Alley. Harry could now say that he had a small piece of his real family; in the armor that protected him and the journal that rested in a pocket near his heart.

* * *

 **Let me know what you think, and if I make some grammar errors, please point them out to me if you are so inclined.**


	4. Show and Tell

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter_**

 ** _I have come to the conclusion that writing dialogue for three different people in a conversation is fairly difficult._**

* * *

 _...a curse unlike any I had encountered. It acted as the imperius curse, but without a caster. I had previously thought it impossible to have such specific effects with a standalone cursed object, but the unidentified golden coins in the trunk that we had found proved that it could be done. Unfortunately, young Nathaniel paid the price for our ignorance when we had to use so many stunners that a dragon would have succumbed in order to stop his curse driven attack. If only he had been practicing his occlumency like I had been instructing him to, he could have fought it off..._

Harry's eyebrow twitched as he read about yet another type of magic that he had never heard of. He sighed and added _occlumency_ down on the piece of parchment he had been listing strange things that he had read about in his Aunt Edith's journal.

It wasn't a huge list, but he knew that everything he had added would probably require extensive research to even find, much less learn how to use. So far, he had added _battle transfiguration, legilimancy, instant apparition, portkeys, leylines,_ and now _occlumency._ His ancestor wrote about these types of things without any kind of explanation, as if they were normal parts of everyday conversation. He knew he should have expected it. It was a journal, after all. But still...

He put down his quill and looked around at the busy dining room. Watching the people coming and going. The Leaky Cauldron was busier than he had seen it yet. Some people with Hogwarts age children had come to the Alley at the last minute in order to get their school supplies for the upcoming term.

It was the last day of summer break. In the almost two weeks since he had started reading his Aunt Edith's journal, he had spent most of his time either exploring the Alley or reading his various course books in his room. He had run into many of his classmates during the days in the Alley and made a point to converse with most of them.

Increasingly getting more bored with the Alley once everything had been 'discovered,' Harry spent more time in his room, realizing that for once, he was going to be properly prepared for his school work. He had also placed all of his things from his old school trunk into his new trunk and gotten rid of the old one.

Runes, as he figured they would be, were fascinating. Basically a whole new language, they were used to anchor spell effects onto physical objects in a process called enchanting. For example, if one were to want to permanently want to change the color of an object with a color-changing charm, one would have to engrave the appropriate runic array somewhere onto the object and then cast the desired spellwork on the object. Once a runic array was activated with the appropriate spell, it was known as a schema. The effect would then be permanent for as long as the runes were intact. Understandably, the whole process could get quite complicated in the more advanced levels and comparing the aforementioned example to, say, his armor was like comparing one plus two to muggle calculus.

Arithmancy, on the other hand, was all about the spells. Every bit of magic had an arithmantical equation, using the primary magical numbers, their multiples, and any number of their permutations in what were known as equations. Again, the equation for _lumos_ was quite simple compared to the equation for the jelly-legs jinx. He learned that every physical object or action that existed in the universe could be represented by a permutation of the multiples of the magical numbers one, three, five, seven, and thirteen. By using the equations, represented by spells containing said equations, wizards and witches were able to use their magic to affect the world around them. The subject was similar, yet very different from muggle mathematics.

Mcgonagall had _not_ been happy with another change to his schedule, but she had nonetheless obliged and told him that his coursework was going to be fairly taxing with three electives and she expected him to keep up with it.

Harry couldn't ever remember being this excited about classes and he had developed an understanding of why Hermione had such a thirst for knowledge. He couldn't wait to get started. Granted, he was more concerned with the practical aspects, but he did know that an understanding of the theory was crucial to any practical applications.

 _'Speaking of Hermione, where the heck is she?'_ He wondered, looking around the busy pub for any sign of either of his best friends. _'She and Ron were supposed to be here ten minutes ago.'_

"Harry! _Harry!_ '' He heard a familiar voice yell. Turning aound in his seat, he was pleased to see Hermione come into the pub dragging her trunk behind her. He got up from his seat and went to greet one of his best friends.

"Hey Hermione,'' He said with a huge smile on his face. "Let me get that trunk for you."

"Thanks Harry, have you seen Ron yet?'' she asked after giving him a rib crushing hug.

"Not yet, he'll be here in a minute. He mentioned in his last letter that he and his family were staying here tonight.'' Harry said, leading her to talk to Tom about getting a room for the night.

''Yeah, he mentioned that to me too. Are you going to finally tell me why you have been staying here for the past three weeks?'' She asked, in the tone that he had come to associate with her.

He knew that it had been bothering her.

"Yes, yes, I'll explain everything once we get everything settled. I have some amazing things to show you and Ron when we get some time to ourselves.'' Harry responded, amused at her bossy tone. Most people would find it annoying, but once you understood that it stemmed from Hermione's desire to _know_ , it was easy enough to ignore.

After talking to Tom and dragging her trunk up to her room, the duo returned to the dining room to wait for Ron and his family to arrive. Hermione was telling Harry all about the things she had seen on her vacation with her parents and Harry couldn't help but feel a little jealous.

They hadn't been talking long when the floo flared green and Mr. Weasley stepped out. The rest of the Weasley clan promptly followed.

Ron spotted Harry and Hermione and rushed over to greet them.

"Hey guys,'' he said, receiving his own rib-crushing hug from Hermione and clasping hands with Harry.

Ginny spotted Harry and her face turned as red as her hair, but she managed to squeak out a 'hello' before trying to hide behind her mother. Harry wondered if she was ever going to be able to talk to him at all with how embarrassed she seemed to get whenever they were in the same room. It only seemed to have gotten worse since he had saved her from the Chamber of Secrets.

After greeting the rest of the Weasleys, including a very amusing comedy skit about Percy's overly formal manners courtesy of Fred and George, the trio stepped into the Alley to take care of Ron and Hermione's shopping for school supplies.

They had stopped at the the Magical Menagerie to get Ron's pet rat Scabbers looked at. Apparently, the rodent had taken ill from the journey to Egypt the Weasley family had taken. Hermione also had business at the menagerie and picked up a rather ugly cat that looked as if it had been smashed in the face with a frying pan. Ron and Hermione had already started arguing about cats around pet rats by the time the store owner gave some rat tonic to Ron.

The trio then made their way over to the book store, stopping by Quality Quidditch so Ron and Harry could ogle the new Firebolt broom. Hermione rolled her eyes, but waited patiently for the boys to finish drooling over the premium broomstick.

At the book store, Hermione and Ron bought all the books they would need for the term. Hermione had been teased mercilessly by the boys for taking all of the electives that were offered to third years. Harry apologized to her by telling them that he was going to be taking three electives himself, having gained an interest in arthmancy since he had told them about switching fro divination to runes. Ron looked at him like he was crazy, but shrugged and said, ''Your funeral, mate.''

Finally finished, with Harry barely able to contain his excitement about being able to share his discoveries with his two best friends, they returned to the Cauldron and tromped up the stairs to his room and closed the door. Ron and Hermione sat on the edge of the bed and Harry dragged the chair from the desk over in front of them.

''Ok guys,'' he started. ''I've got several things I want to show you and I want to get the biggest possible problem out of the way first. So I want you both to promise me that you'll let me finish what I have to say before you fly off the handle or freak out in any way, ok?''

Ron and Hermione looked at each other worriedly before slowly nodding their heads at him.

"Great! Ok, so you remember last year when we discovered that I was a parselmouth? Well, I decided that since I have the ability, I might as well use it, so I got a snake. Would you guys like to meet her? And would you freak out if you did?" Harry quickly explained.

Ron's eyes widened, and he started to sputter a little; not too bad though. Hermione raised her eyebrows and said, '' I would. What kind of snake is it? What is it like talking to it? Is it intelligent?"

Harry looked at Ron, who closed his mouth and swallowed. ''It won't try to hurt us will it?''

Harry shook his head and Ron nodded his aquiescence.

Harry smiled at the two and answered Hermione's questions. "Hermione, _she_ is a taipan, A venemous breed native to Australia. Her name is Ari. She is very intelligent, although she does like to crack bad jokes. Talking to her is just like talking to you guys.''

Hermione's eyes widened a little at the mention of the breed and Harry briefly wondered how it was possible that she had read enough about snakes to be able to recognize a rather rare breed from a continent on the other side of the world. Chalking it up to one of those Hermione things, Harry took off his outer robes, revealing Ari and his armor.

"Guys, this is Ari, _$Ari, this is Ron and Hermione, my two best friends in the whole world.$''_

Ari looked at the two new humans and flicked her tongue at them, tasting their scent and, deciding that she liked it, responded, _$it's a pleasure to meet you sweety and crimson, darling has told me all about you.$_

Harry snickered a bit at the faces of his two friends after hearing him speak in parseltongue for the first time in a while, as well as the nicknames Ari had given them. Ari never used proper names for some reason, even his, or her own.

"She said it was a pleasure to meet you and she gave you her names for you.'' He said with a smile.

Ron, who had been watching the byplay with a slightly awed look, shook his head a bit and asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Hermione nodded her agreement to the question.

"She never uses proper names for anybody. I'm not too sure why, she just says it's too bothersome." Harry chuckled.

"What did she call us?'' Hermione asked curiously.

Harry smiled. "She called you sweety and she called Ron crimson. She calls me darling.''

Ron's ears reddened a little bit at the nickname, but he still chuckled. "Darling?''

"Yep, from the first moment we met.'' Harry said proudly.

He was happy to see his friends were actually interested and not automatically repulsed by the idea of a snake.

"She really is a sweetheart. Most of the time she's wrapped around my arm with her head on my shoulder." He said.

"When you speak to her, do you hear yourself hissing and understand it? Or do you just hear English?" Hermione asked.

"At first, all I heard was English, but as I practiced with Ari, I learned to tell the difference. I remember when we found the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, I had to imagine the little snake engraving at the sink was a real snake in order to get my parseltongue to work. Now, I wouldn't have to do that." Harry responded

"Fascinating,'' Hermione mused. "It seems that even with an inborn magical skill, one still has to practice to be able to use it more than just instinctually. I'll bet that any other skill like that is the same way.''

''I imagine it is.'' Harry shrugged.

Ron cleared his throat and asked, a bit nervously, "Ca-can I hold her?''

Harry stared at Ron in mild shock for a few seconds, he hadn't expected that.

"Of course you can!'' Harry exclaimed, then thought he should ask Ari. _$Would you mind if Ron held you for a little bit?$_

 _$That's fine, he has fear but determination to overcome it, and I sense no hostile intent from him.$_

''She says it's fine.'' Harry said, handing her over to Ron.

Ron nervously, but gently, handled the snake. He seemed to gain more confidence as she wound his way through his fingers and tickled his skin with her flickering tongue.

''Wicked.'' He said.

Harry was just about to crack his face open from smiling so much. He had actually been a little worried about Ron's reaction. Now, it seemed he had worried for nothing.

Ron looked up at him and said, ''I know you were probably worried about what I might say and, truthfully, last year I might have been a prat about it. I guess having dealt with all of that tripe about Slytherin's heir last year made me think a little about my opinions on some things. I know you aren't a bad guy so any skill you have wouldn't be used for evil.''

Now, Hermione joined in at staring at Ron in shock.

"What!? I can say smart things too, you know.'' He said indignantly.

Harry and Hermione collapsed into laughter at that, Ron joining them after his indignation passed.

''Ron, you are the best mate a bloke could ask for.'' Harry said after wiping tears of mirth from his eyes.

"And don't you forget it.'' Ron responded with faux haughtiness.

''What else did you want to show us, Harry?'' Hermione asked after they had calmed down a bit.

''Oh! Right, well, I went to Gringott's and I got my account manager to show me my family vault. He said I couldn't take any money, but that I could take three heirlooms so I could have a few keepsakes from my family. I was originally looking for something of my parent's, but there wasn't anything of theirs in there, so I got to looking around, and I did find a few things. You guys are gonna love this. See the outfit I'm wearing?'' Harry said.

They nodded.

''Well,'' Harry continued. ''It's actually an armor. Watch this; Activate contingency: heavy combat.''

The armor flowed into it's heavy combat form and Harry's two friend's Jaws dropped.

"Wicked!'' Ron and, surprisingly, Hermione exclaimed.

Hermione launched into rapid-fire questions while Ron stared at the faceless visage that the form presented.

"How does it change form? Obviously, you can see, otherwise it wouldn't be very effective armor. What allows you to see out of the mask?'' Hermione asked.

Harry said the deactivation phrase and the armor receded into it's default form, revealing his smiling face.

"Sorry Hermione, I can only answer your questions in the broadest sense. Runes, Charms, and transfiguration." Harry said.

He quickly explained the different forms to his friends.

''...this armor is the reason for my new interest in runes and arithmancy. There was a little booklet that was with the armor in my vault that explained where it came from and how my ancestor made it, although she doesn't go into specifics. I want to learn how to make stuff like this." He finished.

"Can I read that booklet?" Hermione asked.

"Of course.'' Harry responded, smiling at her. "I'll need your help deciphering how it was made anyway.''

Ron was still staring in wonder at the vest.

"Alright, I've got a couple more things to show you.'' Harry said.

Ron snorted. "What could possibly top that armor."

"This.'' Harry said, grinning and pulling his matchbox-sized trunk out of his pocket.

''A matchbox?'' Hermione asked confusedly.

"Nope.'' Harry said, pulling out his wand and tapping the top. "My new trunk.''

"Harry! you'll get into trouble with the ministry for using magic!" Hermione scolded a bit frantically as the trunk grew to it's full size, looking out the window for, presumeably, the ministry owl.

Harry was confused for a second, then he realized that she didn't know that it was a function of the trunk.

''Oh, no," He reassured her, chuckling. ''It's a function of the trunk. See? No ministry owl.''

''Oh.'' She said a bit chagrined. ''You prat! You could have warned us!"

Ron was laughing at her expression and Harry noticed that Ari had wrapped around his shoulders and was taking one of her many naps.

He smiled at them getting along so well, then turned back to Hermione and said,'' Sorry Hermione, I didn't even think about it.''

"It's fine.'' She sniffed. "So you got a self-shrinking trunk, that's pretty neat.''

"That's not all it does.'' Said Harry with a mischievious smirk.

He took out his keys and inserted the number two key into its hole. Popping open the lid with a flourish, he gestured for them to look at the opened compartment.

"Harry, what is this?'' Ron asked.

"This is the potions compartment to my multi-compartment trunk. There are several kinds of cauldrons and just about any kind of ingredient out there.'' Said Harry, pulling up the ingredient rack. "I'm not too sure on what the different cauldrons could be used for, though. I was hoping that Hermione could enlighten me.''

"I know the iron cauldron is used for some medical grade potions, but I have no Idea what the gold one is used for." Hermione said, peering at the cauldrons. "I think those are covered in our NEWT class.''

''That's fine, I'm sure we'll figure it out.'' Said Harry, closing up the second compartment. "Alright Hermione, you're gonna love the next compartment."

Hermione got an excited gleam in her eye and even Ron looked interested.

Harry opened up the next compartment and lifted the first bookshelf up out of the trunk.

Hermione's eyes widened and she squealed in glee. She ran her hand over the spines, probably already compiling a list of books she wanted to read.

Harry chuckled at her predictable enthusiasm and shared an eye roll with Ron.

"Harry! That's _Moste Potente Potions_! There were so many potions I wanted to look at more closely, but I couldn't because I was too focused on the polyjuice! This was in your vault?" Hermione exclaimed in one breath.

"Yeah, everything in compartment two and up was already in the trunk when I got it from my vault except for my schoolbooks on the third shelf. I'm not positive, but I think this trunk belonged to an Auror. It was one of the few things that didn't have a nametag on it. My armor was made by Edith Potter in 1692. I have no clue if anybody else used it before me though."

"Wow, that's old." Said Ron.

"Yeah, but you should read her journal. It's surprisingly easy to read, and she is hilarious." Harry said, watching Hermione peruse through the potions texts.

"You have a journal from the 1600's?'' Hermione asked, looking away from the bookshelf to look at Harry. "Oh, I'll bet it has all sorts of historical accounts.''

''Mostly, she talks about her own personal adventures, and she had a lot of them. She was an independant cursebreaker and an inventor.'' Harry responded. ''I think that's something I would like to do when I get out of Hogwarts, I'm also pretty sure she's my new role model.''

Hermione was practically salivating at all of the books on the first shelf. When he finally was able to pull up the second shelf, it only got worse.

"I know that book!'' She squealed, pointing at _Guarding and attacking the mind._ ''I've been wanting to read it since it was referenced in _An overview of magicks,_ but I couldn't find it anywhere, not even in the restricted section! Harry, do you know what that book is about?''

"Er, no. I haven't really looked at the books on the bottom shelf. They seem like defense books but I guess I didn't feel comfortable reading them yet." He said sheepishly.

"It's about mind magicks, I've been wanting to learn them forever! Well, not so much legilimancy, but definitely occlumency. It's supposed to have all sorts of benefits that can help a person be a better, well, everything!" Explained Hermione.

Hary had perked up, recognizing the mysterious branches of magic that his ancestor had referenced. "Aunty Edith wrote about those! I've been writing down everything that she mentions in her journal that I didn't understand.''

During the conversation between Harry and Hermione, Ron (who was only mildly interested in the subjects) had taken to playing with Ari. She was currently threading her slim body between his fingers.

"That's amazing, Harry! Not many people know anything about the mind arts, and I've asked. Most people don't ever even hear about them, because of the rarity of the only book that teaches them." Hermione continued. "As far as I've been able to gather, they are generally taught by word-of-mouth, but finding someone with more than a passing ability is very difficult.''

Hermione looked a little hesitant. "Would you be willing to let me borrow that book? I know that, normally, you wouldn't have a problem with it, Harry, but this particular book is one of the more rare tomes in the wizarding world. It can't be copied, and the few original copies that remain are held by some of the older families, which I guess is the reason you had one in your vault.''

"What do you mean by 'it can't be copied'?'' Ron asked confusedly.

"It's under a patent ward.'' She explained.

''Oh, that's another thing that Aunt Edith mentioned, but I haven't found an explanation for it yet." Said Harry.

Hermione went into her 'lecture mode' and started to explain. "A patent ward is pretty much the definitive way that people protect their ideas or inventions that they don't want other people to have, It works by placing the idea or invention under a type of anchored charm that hides it from other people. That's where most of the legendary or unique items that you hear about in history come from. It's also how broom companies protect their broom designs, or any company for that matter."

''Wow,'' breathed Harry. Even Ron was a bit interested and paying attention.

Harry smiled at Hermione, then smirked.

"I'll let you borrow the book on one condition...'' He started.

Hermione looked a bit apprehensive at the smirk, but gestured for him to continue anyway.

"We all learn it together.'' He finished.

Ron looked at him like he was crazy and Hermione squealed in delight and hugged him tightly.

"Mate, you can't possibly want to learn that stuff. Me and you barely get by with the normal magic subjects.'' Ron Groaned as Hermione grabbed the book from the shelf still standing from the trunk.

"Ron, one of the benefits of being an occlumens is that it makes it easier to retain things you learn. It doesn't turn you into a super genius or anything like that, but it does make it much easier to focus. I'd say about 95 percent of your academic problems come from lack of focus. I know that you aren't stupid.'' Said Hermione, hugging her prize closely to her chest, then she took a page from Harry and smirked. "Occlumency can help you be a better chess player, too. I'm also willing to bet that there would be advantages for quidditch players as well...'' She added, trailing off enticingly.

"Really?'' Ron asked.

Hermione nodded enthusiastically.

Ron was silent for a moment, looking lost in thought. It was a strange look on him when he wasn't beating someone mercilessly in chess.

"I guess I can see how, chess is all about the strategies and anticipating your opponents. It's always been able to calm me down, that's why Mum taught me how to play when I was younger. Even quidditch has a lot of thinking in it..." Ron said, seeming to get more excited as he talked himself into learning something not being shoved in his face by a teacher. "...OK, I'll do it, but you'll probably have to help me out loads.'' He finished.

Hermione looked like Christmas had come early and gave Ron a big hug, babbling excitedly about how he would learn it if it was the last thing she did, then grabbed Harry and turned it into a trio-hug. She looked happier than Harry had ever seen her. It made him even happier to have suggested they learn occlumency together. Ron was looking pleased with himself and smirked at Harry, who smirked right back.

This was gonna be fun.

The trio decided that they would begin to work on the mind arts when they returned to Hogwarts. Hermione tried to put the book back on the shelf but Harry told her that she needed to read a bit ahead so she could explain things to the boys. She was the smart one after all.

Harry closed the book compartment and opened up the fancy robes compartment. ''I'm not too sure about these robes, they seem pretty fancy, so I guess they are for parties or something.''

"Those are dress robes, for formal events. I've seen Mum and Dad wear them when they go to ministry balls and such.'' Ron Chimed in helpfully.

"Cool, I guess I'll have something to wear to all those balls I attend.'' Harry responded a bit dryly.

"Well, not for a few years yet, mate, but everybody goes to events that require them eventually. Even at Hogwarts. My brothers Bill and Charley had to go to the graduation ball.'' Said Ron.

Harry just sighed as he closed the fourth compartment. He wasn't looking forward to those at all.

"Well, the next compartment is just some drawers for clothes and such, and the one after that is a shelf with preservation charms for food. This one though...'' He opened the seventh compartment with a flourish. ''...is probably the coolest thing about this trunk.''

Ron and Hermione peeked curiously over the edge both exhaling excitedly at seeing the stone staircase leading down. Harry grinned at their reaction and, grabbing his keys, jumped in with a "Follow me.''

Harry led his two friends down the staircase to the room held below. Ron and Hermione seemed speechless at the sight of a bedchamber in a trunk, understandibly.

"W-wow.'' Said Ron, still with Ari on his shoulder.

"This is amazing magic.'' Said Hermione.

After Harry showed them around and explained what he could about the room, the trio returned to the outside world.

''What are you going use that trunk for? Aside from the obvious.'' Asked Hermione.

''Well...'' Harry started hesitantly. "Vernon locks my trunk up when I get home for the summer...'' He briefly explained his plan to make his life a little better at the Dursley's. This led into what happened to make him stay at the Caldron for the last three weeks.

Hermione was horrified at the thought of having to sneak around to do homework, and angry at Marge for what she had said. Ron was horrified at the thought of having to follow the diet that was forced upon a whale like Dudley in order to lose weight, he was also angry at Marge.

''It's getting late guys, and we have to get up early tomorrow.'' Hermione said, looking at the clock.

With that the trio said their goodnights (Hermione with hug and Ron with a shoulder clap and handing Ari back over) and went to their respective rooms.

Harry was finishing packing all of his stuff into his trunk when he realized he had forgotton to tell his friends about the Caster.

 _'Oh well, I'll tell them tomorrow.'_ He thought as he finally laid down for the night.

* * *

 **Let me know what you think. I'll let flames roll over me like a cool summer breeze, and pretend it's good natured ribbing between friends.**


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